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Tigers' season ends in game 2 of sub-section tournament

Morris Area was knocked out of the Section 6A baseball tournament by No. 1 seed Wheaton/ Herman-Norcross Thursday at Chizek Field.

Morris Area scored the first run of the game, but the Warriors plated the rest to advance in the tournament with an 11-1, six-inning win.

The Tigers played through a light rain for most of the game. The other two games scheduled for that day were rained out and postponed to Friday.

Chokio-Alberta defeated Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 2-1 to advance to the sub-section championship against Wheaton/ Herman-Norcross. The Spartans lost 11-0, but both teams advance to the Section 6A tournament in Fergus Falls this week.

Wheaton/H-N 11

Morris Area 1

"The game was tighter than the score indicated," said coach Lyle Rambow.

Scoreless after two innings, Dustin Sauter was dueling with the Warriors' pitcher Jay Nelson.

"Our chance to open a nice lead was thwarted by some bad luck," Rambow said.

Mike Siegel was on first with one out when Chris Boettcher doubled off the left field fence. Then Tyler Hansen singled sharply to left. Siegel scored, but as Boettcher raced around third for another run, he slipped and fell in the rain-soaked grass and was nailed between third and home.

The play cost the Tigers a run and an out.

Sauter then singled and Matt Wohlers was intentionally walked to load the bases, but a strike out ended the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the Warriors scored four runs on two hits including a homer by Sam Thielen, a hit batter, and two Tiger errors. One of the errors occurred when a Tiger outfielder slipped down on an easy catch.

Sauter gave up seven runs on the mound, but only one was earned as Morris Area committed four errors.

The Warriors made the Tigers pay with clutch hits to drive in runs. They committed no errors in the wet conditions.

Morris Area had base runners in every inning but the first, but couldn't find the big hits. The Warrior fielders made every out count.

"Our guys improved throughout the season and played hard," said Rambow. "Unfortunately, we made some errors, walked too many, and had some weird bad breaks.